Mattinson’s winter expectations

Forecaster Dennis Mattinson checked it out and offered this view of winter days to come:

Well, the long range forecast models continue to predict no <important> precipitation for Central California (that’s us) for the next 10 days. What we are seeing here is a more typical La Nina “like” pattern year. That is, long periods of dry weather, punctuated by short spells of wet weather. Last year we had the opposite, long periods of wet weather, with short periods of dry. This current drier pattern will mostly likely continue for the rest of this winter. This is not to say we won’t get moisture, but it will be more like the storms last weekend – brief. What this is doing to the economy here in the Eastern Sierra remains to be seen, but I don’t think it’s good. This year Mammoth’s economy, as measured by its occupancy rate, is way down. And when their economy is down, everyone’s is down, that deals with tourism in this area. The old saying here is still true, “live by the sword, die by the sword.” Last year, Mammoth owned the sword.

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